KEY POINTS:
Everyone in New Zealand wants to back Princess Coup in Saturday's A$3 million ($3.35 million) Cox Plate, but she can't attract much interest in Australia.
At the same time as Princess Coup is shortening steadily from $3 at the weekend to $2.80 on Tuesday and to $2.60 yesterday, the champion New Zealand mare's price has lengthened with Australian bookmakers.
Yesterday you could get $3.80 about Princess Coup in Melbourne before she tightened to $3.70 on the back of a sprinkling of interest, most of it from New Zealand.
"The only significant bet we've laid was $1500 on the mare at $3.80 - and that was from New Zealand," said DoubleBet bookie Brian Taylor.
"The Princess can hardly strike a blow."
Australians like to see horses on home soil before they show interest and perhaps the Princess Coup momentum will build as a result of her arrival there last night.
Australian punters have rallied behind Sydney filly Samantha Miss after a stunning gallop at Moonee Valley last weekend.
Rider Glen Boss and trainer Chris Lees were impressed.
"The camber on the bends here suited her and she got on the right leg straight away," said Boss of the filly who has not raced left-handed.
Yesterday bookies had Samantha Miss at $4 despite the shocking record 3-year-old fillies have in the big weight-for-age race.
The last filly to win the race was the mighty Surround in 1975.
The No 9 barrier draw for Princess Coup is probably not ideal, but she was probably always going to drop back in the small field.
Meanwhile, Victorian jockey Craig Newitt, who rides Alamosa in the Cox Plate, has won the ride on Princess Coup if she lines up in the Mackinnon Stakes a week later.
Opie Bosson rides Princess Coup on Saturday, but he will begin a suspension after the meeting which rules him out of the ride on Derby Day at Flemington.
"I approached Craig's manager about the Mackinnon and Craig rang me back to say he'd love to ride her," trainer Mark Walker told Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper.
Newitt had already agreed to ride for the Walker stable for two days at Cup week in Christchurch next month and has also been asked to ride at the Auckland Christmas carnival.
"I'm riding at Riccarton on November 15 and 18 for Mark," Newitt confirmed last night.
"It means missing the Sandown Classic and Bendigo Cup meetings, but I'm not going to just make up the numbers, I'll be on horses with good winning chances.
"It's a fantastic opportunity to team up with New Zealand's leading trainer at a couple of their biggest race meetings.
"Mark has some lightweight hopes in the good races over there, and longer term he's got some horses he'd like to take to the Sydney [autumn] carnival. Who knows what this could lead to for me?"
Newitt thought Princess Coup was the hardest to beat on Saturday but he was warming to his chances of causing an upset with Alamosa.
"The Cox Plate has fallen away a bit. There only looks to be about six winning chances and I certainly think Alamosa is one of them."
* Cambridge 3-year-old Our Scotsgrey earned himself a place in the Victoria Derby at Flemington on Saturday week when he finished second in yesterday's Geelong Derby Trial
- NZPA
